


Epilogue

by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Futurefic, Gen, IM3 Spoilers, a coda of sorts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-09
Updated: 2013-08-09
Packaged: 2017-12-22 21:55:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/918470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years later, Tony meets Harley Keener at a science and engineering fair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Ten years down the road](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/25809) by deanwhoflirtswitheveryone. 



> Inspired by a tiny ficlet I saw on tumblr which is worth reading.

** Epilogue **

It’s been almost a decade since the Avengers formed, and Tony is at a science and engineering fair, looking at all the projects hoping to obtain funding, when he sees Pepper admiring something at the stand of a young man who looks vaguely familiar.

It takes Tony a moment, but he finally places the kid: the wide eyes and deceptively guileless expression are exactly the same. 

He interrupts the careful funding seduction of Pepper by walking over and asking cheerfully, “Harley Keener. Are you still the little shit I remember?”

“ _Tony,_ ” Pepper hisses, but Harley grins wide and says just as cheerfully, “Are you still a giant dick?”

“Most people would probably say so, yeah,” Tony agrees, even if he’s mellowed out a little in the last few years. “Stop working Pepper over and tell me about your project, kid.”

Harley does. He’s articulate and irreverent and slips in sly jabs at Tony and Tony snipes right back and overall the kid’s project is actually, genuinely _interesting_.

“Pep, Pepper, I want this young man,” Tony tells Pepper, who’s been looking back and forth between them with a speculative expression Tony doesn’t really like. “Hire him.”

“Hey, who says I _want_ you to hire me?” Harley retorts. “Maybe I’m holding out for a better offer, old man.”

“First of all, fuck you,” Tony says, unperturbed, “I am not old, and secondly, Stark Industries is the best offer you could ever dream of, you young asshole.” 

Harley snickers, and Tony knows the kid has ever intention of getting funding from SI, at the very least, but he isn’t about to make it easy for Tony.

As a difficult asshole himself, Tony can appreciate that.

“Tell you what,” Tony proposes, “why don’t we ditch these losers and I’ll buy you a drink – you are old enough, right? I’ll buy you a drink and we can talk about funding and recruitment and all that jazz.”

Harley gives him an unimpressed eyebrow.

“Or, I could show you around Stark Tower,” Tony adds. “I’ll even show you my private workshop, you’ll be wowed, believe me. Come on, how many people can honestly say they’ve been inside Tony Stark’s private workshop? You’ll have bragging rights and everything.”

“Fine,” Harley sighs, rolling his eyes, like he’s humouring Tony instead of being offered the chance of a lifetime. Tony feels weirdly proud. People must want to strangle the kid, like, _all the time_. “Let me pack up my stuff.”

So Harley packs up his stuff, and they leave, and ride in Tony’s limo back to Stark Tower while Harley goes through the bottles in the minibar.

_ (“How old are you, anyway?” Tony asks, as Harley helps himself to a fine whiskey. _

_ “Twenty one.” _

_ “You’re lying.” _

_ “Who’re you going to tell, Mr Supplying Alcohol to a Minor?” _

_ “Shut up and drink my scotch, whippersnapper. It was pure curiosity.”) _

Back at the Tower Tony reintroduces Harley to JARVIS, who of course remembers him perfectly.

“Yeah, I remember JARVIS, he’s cool,” Harley smiles.

“Thank you, young sir.”

“Suck up,” Tony mutters.

As promised, Harley is shown around the more interesting parts of the Tower, and then Tony’s workshop. Harley makes interested noises about the tech Tony’s working on, and asks intelligent questions, and somehow they end up working together on Tony’s newest Iron Man armour.

They’re still there when Pepper arrives home. She stares at the sight of Harley exclaiming in irritation and jabbing a finger at Tony while Tony nods and frowns.

“Oh hey, Ms Stark-Potts,” Harley blinks, and gives her an engaging smile. “Hey, JARVIS, what time is it?”

“It is 6.05pm, young sir,” says JARVIS, and Tony sees Pepper mouth _young sir?_ looking somewhere between concerned and amused. He pretends not to notice.

“Shit, I’ve got to go,” says Harley, "but–” and he haggles out a funding arrangement that Tony agrees to pretty much instantly.

“Cool. I’ll call you,” says Harley, and Tony says “here, let me call the limo for you,” and five minutes later Harley is gone and Tony feels drained but happy and Pepper is giving him a Look.

“What?” says Tony, and then, “I’m pretty sure if we’d ever reproduced, I’d have spawned a kid pretty much like him,” and Pepper’s face softens.

“I know,” she said quietly.

“So,” Tony asks casually – carefully casual – “can we keep him?” 

Pepper rolls her eyes, but doesn’t actually say no.

END


End file.
